Wed.12.31.14...Forgive us our Sins...Part 4

As we have been working our way through the Lord’s prayer, we’ve come to a very challenging portion of it- “Forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.” Sin is such a huge issue that God himself had to come down in flesh and cruelly die to provide forgiveness for our sins. Every ruptured relationship that we, our protégés, or others may be struggling with is rooted in sin. Thus, it must be uprooted. God is most merciful to forgive us when we confess our sins. We thought about this on our MP3 yesterday- “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” Prov.15:33. We also provided a simple way of encouraging ourselves and our protégés to confess rather than conceal sins. (I was so impressed by your honest responses. What manly strength of character!) We only need to write a letter- a very short letter- the letter R at the end of our daily comments.  The letter R stands for such things as Repented, Reconciled, made Restitution, Regained my Respect in God’s eyes, the eyes of others and in myself. Speaking of the word restitution, let’s answer a question regarding it and then tackle some other questions related to forgiveness.

What is restitution anyway?

The word is used 14 times in the Bible and it means to make amends, to repay. The goal of restitution is restoring things to a friendly or peaceful relationship. A proper apology could be the one I taught my son as a child, "I'm sorry; what I did was wrong. Would you please forgive me? What can I do to make it up to you?" It is because of the Bible's wise teaching on making amends that we practice restitution when a brother would wrong another by not calling him back by the end of the following day or being late for a meeting. He is to make amends with a doughnut or a drink (Diet Mt.Dew please:). Notice that this is not some heavy fine, though the wrong was wrong indeed.(As a matter of fact, if this same issue occurs again, the wronged party is to contact me so that we can help the offender to overcome such.)  The doughnut or drink is an inexpensive thing, designed to foster a happy resolution. As a matter of fact, we encourage the offending person to buy a few doughnuts so he too can all the more enjoy their next time together. Why? Because this isn't about shame but celebrating restoration. All is well now. Restitution restores the respect owed to the coach and the self-respect to the protégé (or vice versa). We can never respect ourselves when we have acted disrespectfully. 

People can try to minimize, rationalize or conceal their sins against another, but it is still a barrier in the relationship until it is broken down by confession and restitution. We are following God's example- he devises ways so that a person may not remain estranged (2 Sam.14:14). Restitution is aimed at the restoration of the relationship. This is the heart of God and our heart in this matter. God celebrates relationships restored and so do we. When a brother rights his wrong via confession and restitution, he also gets to put an R at the end of his comments. And that puts points on the board for the team and for himself. We celebrate the strength it took to make that wrong right. Way to go!

Why do so many recommend to write a list of wrongs you need to right?

Writing helps our minds to clarify things and may expose hidden things. Paul wrote, “we have renounced secret and shameful ways.” 2 Cor.4:2. We know that “he who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” Prov.28:13. So it is wise to clean house, to gain a clear conscience. May this be our testimony- “We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way.” Heb.13:18. The letter R is about helping you be a warrior of Respect and honor. So right wrongs.

But what if the person I wronged has done a whole lot of wrong to me to begin with? They may deserve a whole lot worse than you ever did to them. But as my father used to say when I returned wrong back to my brother or sister, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” Here’s what our Father says, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord. On the contrary: 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Rom.12:17-21.

This is what God did for us. He overcame our evil by doing good for us. He gave far more than food; He gave us his Son that we might be reconciled to him. Reconciliation is so Godlike and of such great importance to God. Look what he has even commissioned us to do- God “reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” 2 Cor.5:18-20. May we also not count people's sins against them.

We are ambassadors of reconciliation! So if we realize during our time of worship that we have offended someone, what should we do? Jesus said, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift” Mt.5:23-24. Wow! Reconciliation is even more important than worshiping and giving. So seek to settle matters quickly. Make this “a big rock,” a top priority issue.

But what if the person is no longer alive?

You could imagine them still alive before you and confess your wrongdoing.

But what if I don’t even know where the person lives anymore?

Then you could pray, “Lord, if you want me to seek their forgiveness, then you will need to surface them.” God will orchestrate things as He sees fit. He is glad that you have a willing heart to make things right.

But what if it would only make things worse?

Then leave that with God as well. Perhaps write out a letter of confession nonetheless to get it cleansed out of you, then get rid of the letter as God does with our sins.

But what if the person is still not a safe person? I don’t want to have a relationship with him (her).

You don’t need to. Ask for forgiveness or granting forgiveness is not the same as trusting them again. Trust is something that is earned by being trustworthy.

Note: If the person you are talking to doesn't know you're a Christian, it's often good to begin by saying, "God has convicted me that what I did was wrong..." give God the credit for such. You might be pleasantly surprised at where the conversation goes because of this. 

1. There might be other things that you think are important to add to our discussion on seeking forgiveness from a person we have wronged. If so, feel free to share if you wish. Or if you have a personal story you want to share, without getting into intimate details, that could be very helpful to others. This kind of sharing with our proteges and others is huge. We are not modeling perfection for them, but modeling what to do with our imperfections. JC Penney said, "When you fall down, get up." We want to coach people to get up.

2.-Several Scriptures were shared again today. Pick one that especially grabbed you; write it out and share briefly your thoughts on it. Then also write it on your 3x5 as your MP3 (Meditation, Prayer, Praise, Pass it on). Do the “Did it” when you did it.

Remember, from here on out, if you have humbly confessed a wrong since the last time you commented on the blog, you simply add the letter R on a separate line at the bottom of your comments. I want to congratulate in advance for doing so. I admire you! And what a great holy habit to develop for the new year. Our relationships will only improve as we quickly seek to right wrongs.

Announcements

Speaking of the new year, may this new year be a great one for you and for us all in advancing the kingdom of God in GREAT ways. See you next year (tomorrow) right here. 

		G=God's Word	R	E	A	T=Team members recruited
		For Mon.12.29.14
	Alpha Force
	Fire Team 1
1	Jack Rogers	Y				2	Daniel & Roger
2	Daniel Contreras	Y				1	Vince
3	Vince Diaz	Y
4	Roger Vinlasaca	Y
	Fire Team 2
5	Israel Fuentes	Y
6	John Pallozzi
7	Sam Vargas	Y				1	Robert
8	Robert	Y
	Delta Force
	Fire Team 3
1	Alvin James	Y
2	Dave Heidekruger	Y
3	Mike Pagan	Y
	Fire Team 4
4	Eddie Morales	Y				2	Gary & Ismael
5	Gary Remson	Y
6	Ismael Andrade	Y

Tues.12.30.14...Forgive us our Sins...Part 3

The last two times we have focused on the powerful portion in the Lord’s prayer- “Forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.” But what if I am the one who has sinned against another? Can I claim that it’s all under the blood and ignore what I’ve done even in my B.C. days? No, we should go back to those whom we have sinned against and confess such. (I’ve had to do so.) Notice this is what the prodigal son did. He had terribly insulted his father on earth and in heaven and so he confessed, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.” Luke 15:21.

The father gave him a warm embrace and extended amazing grace. But that doesn’t mean others will when we confess our wrongdoings against them. Why? Perhaps they are hardened in heart or perhaps our confession seems insincere to them. When my boy was little and wronged his sister, we told him he needed to say he was sorry. He hated doing this, so through gritted teeth and without moving his lips, he would say, “Sorry.” So later we had him say the following, “I’m sorry; what I did was wrong. Will you please forgive me? What can I do to make it up to you?” He didn’t like saying that either, but the last questions usually prompted my daughter to extend mercy and grace to the little sinner. (Hmm, wonder where he got that sinful streak? “It was the woman you gave me”:) 

By the way, isn't it amazing how both children and adults blame other people for their sins. Or they justify it or minimize it. For example, you might hear a believer cuss while on the job. His coworkers may stick it to him a bit and say- "And you call yourself a Christian?!" To which he might say such dumb things as- "Well, you guys make me so mad!" "I didn't say, I was perfect, but I am forgiven, which is more than I can say for you guys." What should he instead say to his coworkers? "You know, you're right. Please forgive me for that." This is the right and quickest way to rebuild his testimony. 

Even after being a Christian for many years, I know confession of my wrongdoings is still tough for me to do. Yet, confession of sin is foundational for growth. Relationships with God and others suffer greatly when we brush our bad behavior under the rug. Plus, we lose respect in our own eyes and the eyes of others. Also we tend to think we will lose face if others knew we blew it. So how can we help ourselves and our proteges to get better at this vital practice of confession that we naturally shun?  If only there was a way we could commend men for having the courage to right a wrong? There is! Thanks to our daily online fellowship and our GREAT scoreboard we can help each other in ways which most offline weekly groups can never do. How? You will be rewarded for being honest. No, we don't want to create a confessional booth to hear the details of how you were rude to your wife and how you later apologized to her. Instead, simply type a letter- the letter R. The letter R stands for Repented, Reconciled, Regained my Respect. That's what the letter R stands for on our GREAT scoreboard. 

But what will my brothers think if they see that I added an extra line at the end of my comments with just the letter R appearing? 
They will Respect you! You also will be helping the team score on the board. (So the team with the most honest sinners will win that day:) Just imagine what this can do for a man's marriage? Picture a protege's wife saying to you, "My husband is not the same man he used to be. He rarely could admit his wrongs, but now he seems more motivated to do so. I don't know what's gotten into him?" I do! He is now being made to feel like a hero not a zero for admitting his wrongs. (Just now, my wife walked into my office and I confessed how I had recently been hurtful with my words. She graciously forgave me. I feel better and she feels better. Anybody want to recruit me onto your team? I might put a whole lot of points on the board for you!:) So let's normalize the fact that "we all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man" Ja.3:2. If a man tells me he is never at fault in what he says, he has the fault of lying! "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1:8. So let's make heroes out of the men that have the guts to heroically tackle sin in their lives. It takes real strength and humility to do so, and God honors humility (Prov.15:33). So let's honor what God honors.   

1.-Prov.28:13 is hugely helpful in regards to confessing sin, rather than ignoring it. So please look it up and write it on your 3x5 as your MP3 (Meditation, Prayer, Praise, Pass it on). Do the “Did it” when you did it.

2.-Please comment on anything that we covered today in the blog.

From here on out, if you have humbly confessed a wrong since the last time you commented on the blog, you’ll simply add the letter R on a separate line at the bottom of your comments. I want to congratulate you in advance for doing so. I admire you! Our relationships with all people will only improve as we quickly seek to right wrongs. What a great holy habit to develop for the new year.

Announcements

Speaking of the new year, since many of you might be out late bringing in the new year, you will have all day Wednesday and Thursday to respond to the Wednesday blog. (No hangovers allowed though:) Since a lot of you might have Thursday off, I will post the test that day for you to attack. I look forward to bringing in the new year together with you. I believe God is going to give us a GREAT year together.

Please keep Jack in your prayers. He is going back under the knife tomorrow- this time for his other hand. It may take a while before he is even able to type with either hand. So Jack, you have our prayers and a medical excused absence from the blog :) We’ll miss you!

Men, you are Unstoppable!

		G=God's Word	R	E	A	T=Team members recruited
		For Fri.12.26.14
	Alpha Force	100%
	Fire Team 1
1	Jack Rogers	Y				2	Daniel & Roger
2	Daniel Contreras	Y				1	Vince
3	Vince Diaz	Y
4	Roger Vinlasaca	Y
	Fire Team 2
5	Israel Fuentes	Y
6	John Pallozzi	Y
7	Sam Vargas	Y				1	Robert
8	Robert	Welcome!
	Delta Force	100%
	Fire Team 3
1	Alvin James	Y
2	Dave Heidekruger	Y
3	Mike Pagan	Y
	Fire Team 4
4	Eddie Morales	Y				2	Gary & Ismael
5	Gary Remson	Y
6	Ismael Andrade	Y

Mon.12.29.14...Forgive us our Sins... Part 2

“Forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who sin against us.” This is such a huge topic and issue that we are returning to it. Today, we want to focus on forgiving others and dealing with stronghold sins. We especially need to confess the deadly sin of unforgiveness. In light of the huge sin debt that our Lord has forgiven us, how dare we not forgive the relatively small sin debt of others (Mt.18:21-35). I know it doesn’t feel small at first, but it’s crucial that we bring closure to their sin against us, or it will close off our fellowship with our Father. Jesus highlighted this right after giving the Lord’s prayer. He said, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” Mt.6:14-15. The older brother’s unforgiveness toward his prodigal brother hardened his heart and kept him from enjoying his father’s joy and fellowship at the celebration. He ended up resenting even his father’s grace.

So if the Spirit of Christ should point out an area where we are harboring unforgiveness or are failing to reflect Christ in thought, word or deed, then follow David’s example- “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.’ And you forgave the guilt of my sin.” Ps.32:5.

But if we foolishly seek to hide the enemy (our sins), rather than confessing and ridding ourselves of such, then great setbacks await us- “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper…” Prov.28:13. The strong walls of Jericho fell to Joshua and the people as they obeyed God. But they were next soundly defeated at the small town of Ai because one man saw, coveted, and stole forbidden things. He concealed his transgressions. It wasn’t until he confessed his evil that the army was victorious. How horrible to think that if I should cherish sin in my heart, that I could hinder not only myself, but the army of God and M3.   

So if you (including me) ever end up struggling with a concealed and enslaving sin, then it’s time to use another powerful, divine weapon to drive it out- confessing to another brother who can help you conquer. Breakthroughs begin when dark, enslaving sins such as pornography, immorality, drugging, drinking, etc are exposed to the light- ”Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” Eph.5:11. Such sins are sickening to your soul. “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:16. We want to be righteous men who are prayerful and helpful so that a struggling brother feels safe to open up to us. When he does, we want to lovingly seek to restore him, hating the sin, but loving the sinner. “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Gal.6:1-2. The law of Christ is his law of love. His great love that forgave us is to motivate us to forsake our sins and help others overtaken by sin. Love is the greatest.

G.a- Once again, we’ve covered several important Scriptures. Pick one from all of the above that especially grabbed your attention; write it out on our blog and briefly comment on it.

G.b- Write out a portion of that passage on your MP3 card. Do the “Did it” when you did it.

Announcements/Reminders

Sun.12.28.14...Eddie's Heart Condition

Dave's Introductory Note: I want to thank Eddie for being the first to volunteer to present his GDP (Growing Deeper Project). He did a great job! Be blessed and let him know your thoughts.

Heart Condition 

I recently had to go through a series of physical exams. My initial results showed some complications with my heart. I didn't want to delay looking into this situation further, especially since I was diagnosed with a potential heart condition. After further testing, the results came back. The cardiologist came in and looked at the results and told me that my heart was healthy. He said, "Your heart is healthy now, but the important thing is to keep your heart healthy for the rest of your life." I immediately thought of the spiritual implications that came with this statement. My heart may be healthy physically, but is it healthy spiritually?  And if my heart is healthy now, how can I keep it healthy?

I believe the condition of our heart will affect our ministry, our intentional influence, our lives and most importantly every decision we make. So many times throughout the Old and New Testament, it talks about the condition of our hearts. Here are just a few examples:

"Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go." Exodus 8:32 NIV

"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left." Ecclesiastes 10:2 NIV

"As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been." 1 Kings 11:4 NIV

We make countless decisions on a daily basis. Most decisions we don't think twice about, while some we take our time with. Every decision we make has an outcome, a consequence, an impact on us. For example, if I want a physically healthy heart and body in the future, I would create a workout routine and get into the habit of eating healthy today. Thus, in the near future (and hopefully for the rest of my life as I continue the routine), I will see and enjoy a healthy heart and body. We also need to remember that many of our decisions significantly affect others- we are interconnected. What we do today can positively or negatively affect others as well as ourselves. Choose wisely!

In Matthew 6:21 Jesus says, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." People fix their heart on what they value most; so they fix their eyes on what they consider a priority. I am reminded of a story from the Gospel of Mark, where a man had a heart condition and it affected his decision making. (Mark 10:17-28). Jesus asked a young, wealthy man to sell everything he had and follow him. The rich young man said that he had been obedient to all the commands, but "Jesus looked at him and loved him [and said, 'There is] one thing you lack...Go and sell everything you have and give to the poor...then come follow me.'" The scripture says that the young man's face fell and he went away sad. He declined an invitation to follow Jesus because of his bad heart condition. 

I found an interesting insight on this portion of scripture from a book called, Love Does: "It's important to note here that Jesus didn't ask everybody to give up all their stuff. This is something He asked of the rich young ruler because He wanted to teach the young man that he wasn't as holy as he thought he was. Jesus wanted to teach the young man that he still needed God's help, to look at what he had and decide whether he would rather have that, or trade up and have what Jesus is offering:a life with Him." I think if we really look at the story deeper, it wasn't necessarily having money that was the problem, but pride that the young man was struggling with. Seems like the young man was saying, “I spent my whole life building up this empire. I don't want to lose all this wealth that took so much of my time and hard work to amass. I put my whole heart into this and now you want me to give it away?!” He didn't see that to follow Jesus equaled being with JESUS! He could have had a new heart and a life so much more abundant and fulfilling. 

I wouldn’t really know about my physical heart’s condition until I submitted to my doctor’s heart test. Sometimes, we may have spiritual heart problems that we may not know about until we have a heart to heart talk with the Great Physician, Jesus.  Many times I think that we can decline Jesus' invitation to follow Him, when we choose our priorities over Jesus. What thing, if any, is competing with Jesus? We tend to undervalue our sins and write them off as not that bad. By the same token, we have a tendency to overestimate our abilities, skills and deeds.

I think there is a way to keep our hearts healthy. It's by asking ourselves and God some honest questions and allowing Him the time to show us the answer to those questions. I believe this requires that we humbly approach His throne and spend some time with Him. We need to stay humble before the Lord and understand that we aren't finished. As the end of the year approaches, I always take time to evaluate my goals- financial, personal, spiritual, vocational, etc. I know I especially need to take time to evaluate my heart. I like the following words regarding our hearts- “If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” 1 John 3:20 NIV

Here is an interesting article that I thought would be appropriate for us to read and implement during the last week of the year as we evaluate and look ahead for the coming year.

http://www.cslewisinstitute.org/Annual_Spiritual_Check_Up?utm_source=Spiritual+Check-Up+%28Chicago%29&utm_campaign=Spiritual+Checkup&utm_medium=email

Grace and Peace Brothers!

Eddie

Note from Dave: Great job Eddie! I’m sure the author of the link provided didn’t pass all the questions he came up with. So many questions can feel overwhelming. So why not pick a few that strike you men as most important and think of some ways to make progress on them this coming year? 

Here are some suggestions to all of you yet to present:
Keep it short and sweet as Eddie did. Don't be intimidated if you are not a good writer. Just seek to do a good job, not as good as everyone else. How to do a good job? Proof reading is crucial! Read over what you wrote out loud. Remember, there's no such thing as good writing, only good re-writing. Use Spell-Check. Please, never submit something to me that you first haven't proof read and used Spell-Check. (That's good advice for even what you post on the blog.) I will work with you to polish up your work, but please do your work of proof reading it first. Otherwise, I'll lovingly send it back to you. If you are really intimidated with writing, feel free to copy a lot and paste from other sources, just give them credit where credit is due. Speaking of things being due, since I've not gotten an overflow of volunteers, let's knock these out by dividing the due dates as follows- If the first letter of your last name is between A-F your GDP is due Jan.8th. G-L is due Jan.15th. M-R is due by Jan.22. S-Z is due Jan.29th. Please write your due date on your calendar and get it in to me by then. (Don't make me come to your door :) Again, I'm here to help you. Also one of the purposes of the GDP is to help you become more familiar with all the resources that are now available to you on the web. That way you can help your proteges when they hit you with questions you may not have the answer for right then and there. 

Lastly, feel free to also include a verse or truth you liked from the message today. Also please post your thoughts regarding M3 for other men considering to join. Then please email me by tomorrow night your prayer partners- their names and emails. Thanks mucho! Tomorrow, I also look forward to introducing our newest M3 teammate. He's a great brother!

Fri.12.26.14...Forgive us our Sins...

I trust you had a Merry Christmas yesterday as we celebrated the One who came to save his people from their sins. Speaking of sins, today we come to a surprising phrase in the Lord’s prayer- “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” But, aren't we already forgiven? Then why do we have to ask God to forgive us? Answer: God, as our Judge, has forgiven our sin debt because it was paid for by His Son, the Innocent One. Thus, we are eternally right in his sight and will be forever together. But as our Father, God is calling us to forgive others as he has fully forgiven us. We are to be like God, “forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” Eph.4:32. Today we will begin with this first phrase “Forgive us our sins.” Tomorrow we will deal with those who have sinned against us and stronghold sins.

Because of salvation in Christ, we are forgiven and new creations in Christ, but we still have an “enemy within the gates” that wages war against our soul. We must constantly guard our new hearts from the enemies of sin and Satan. Men, we are in a battle. Passivity is our downfall. Thus as soldier’s, we are given this manly command, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” Prov.4:23. If an enemy could capture or pollute a town’s well, the people were doomed. Thus, our hearts must be guarded at all costs from enemy attack. The corrupt nature wants to ruin us. So it is- kill or be killed. “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator" Col.3:5-10.

But what do we do when our guard has slipped and such enemies have breached the gates of our Mansoul? 

We must drive them out! But how? “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds” 2 Cor.10:4. The first weapon to use to drive out sin is surprisingly simple- it’s confession. As we come to this part in the Lord’s prayer, with God’s help we can do a quick scan of the land of our heart. Has bitterness crept in? Name (confess) the enemy. Is it resentment, pride, lust, greed, bad language or unforgiveness to others? We should confess these as soon as we are aware of them, even in the middle of our day. When we confess such sins, God gives us a wonderful promise to claim-“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” 1 John 1:9. The waters of cleansing are waiting for us (John 13:6-11). When I confess what sins I am aware of, He then even cleanses me from what I’m not aware of- all unrighteousness. TYF! (Thank You Father!)

Thus, we don’t need to go on a witch hunt of introspection to find sins to confess. To fix our eyes on searching out sin is a dark and despairing pursuit. We are called to fix our eyes on Jesus who brings forgiveness, joy and peace. Instead, at this point in the Lord’s prayer, simply invite God to search you-

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” Ps.139:23-24.

1.-As we have seen, there are plenty of passages that speak to us about this vital subject of sin, confession and forgiveness. (To save you time, I wrote them out, rather than asking you to look them all up.) Pick out one verse or phrase out of the many that were quoted above and share your good thoughts regarding such.

2.- Copy down 1 John 1:9 on your 3x5 as your MP3 of the day (your verse of Meditation, Prayer, Praise and Passing on to others). Then do the “Did it.”

Announcements/Reminders
This Sunday is a special day for a couple of reasons. First, we will be having our open house from 2-5 PM for you and your loved ones. We're at 9541 S. Oakley Ave. There will be plenty of desserts and great fellowship with you there. 

Also this Sunday, we will be featuring our first GDP (Growing Deeper Project) on our blog. So stop on by here, read, be blessed and encourage your teammate who wrote it. Plus, you can leave a praise phrase from Sunday's message. 

Several of you have talked to me about the coach quality men you are reaching out to. Way to go! Please see if you can get them on board with us by the end of this month. The absolute latest would be at our Jan.11th meeting. Share your enthusiasm! Also please share your enthusiasm with me- your written words regarding M3. Please knock this out this weekend (put it on today's or Sunday's blog) then I can put together several M3 testimonies for you to share with those coach quality men that you're seeking to recruit. Teamwork makes the dream work.

The above picture of warriors fighting reminds us that we are in a terrible battle. But the weapons we must use to defeat satanic forces that hold men in apathy are supernatural. They include the sword of the Spirit and the spear of the Spirit- the word of God and prayer. So we need to be prayer warriors and recruit prayer warriors. We're deceived by the enemy already if we think we can win otherwise. So for those of you who have not yet recruited two prayer warriors, please do so by Monday the 29th. Just email me their names and email addresses. I will send them weekly prayer warrior updates for you and the team. They will be our hidden strike force. The kingdom of God advances forcefully. Prepare to attack. Plus, they will be honored and invited to an important prayer gathering happening at the same time as our first meeting- Jan.11^th- on a different floor of Jack’s home. So you married men, please highly consider inviting your wife to be one of your prayer partners. Plus, we will be launching "The Bible" DVD discussion group at 1:00 PM Jan.11th. More on that Monday.

		G=God's Word	R	E	A	T=Team members recruited
		For Wed.12.24.14
	Alpha Force	100%
	Fire Team 1
1	Jack Rogers	Y				2	Daniel & Roger
2	Daniel Contreras	Y				1	Vince
3	Vince Diaz	Y
4	Roger Vinlasaca	Y
	Fire Team 2
5	Israel Fuentes	Y
6	John Pallozzi	Y
7	Sam Vargas	Y
	Delta Force
	Fire Team 3	100%
1	Alvin James	Y
2	Dave Heidekruger	Y
3	Mike Pagan	Y
	Fire Team 4
4	Eddie Morales	Y				2	Gary & Ismael
5	Gary Remson	Y
6	Ismael Andrade	Y

I know you all are looking forward to the upcoming test more than a little kid in front of Christmas presents:) So I'll let you peek at a few of the questions that will be on the upcoming test:

1.-What is our mission? To multiply MANLY men.

2.-What does MANLY stand for?

Mature in character

Active in mentoring

Noble in battle

Loving in relationships

Yoked with Christ and others

3.-We also embrace the Marine Corp motto "Semper Fi" which means ______________ (Always Faithful)

3.-Our Father loves us and longs to meet with us and build us up. How often does God want us to meet with him in His word? Daily

4.-When a man makes and keeps the commitment to daily meet with God and his brothers on the blog, even if it means staying up late (No Scripture, No sleep), he becomes un_____________. (unstoppable). He "keeps his oath, even when it hurts" Ps.15:4. He gets the big rocks in no matter what.

5.-True or False- To earn the Unstoppable pin, which is necessary to advance, a man needs to demonstrate that he has been faithful to his commitment by daily meeting with his brothers on the blog and posting his comments before the next blog goes up at 3:00 AM. (Commenting after that time is fine, but it is not credited.) True

6.-Who are your prayer partners you have recruited (non M3 people)?